‘Mission: Impossible 5′: Jeremy Renner Confirms His Involvement

In 2011, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, the fourth film in the action-spy franchise starring Tom Cruise, opened to rave reviews and became the series’ highest-grossing film to date. The world has been waiting ever since for the next installment, and it looks like the gears are finally turning for Mission: Impossible 5 with the recent hire of Call of Duty videogame writer Will Staples to take a pass at Iron Man 3 co-writer Drew Pearce’s original script.

Meanwhile, Cruise is already confirmed to return as the lead of M:I 5, while the actor’s Jack Reacher director (and Edge of Tomorrow writer) Christopher McQuarrie will take the director’s chair. As for casting, Mission: Impossible III and Ghost Protocol costar Simon Pegg has said he’ll also be back for M:I 5 and Jessica Chastain has reportedly been offered a big role in the film.

Many may remember that Cruise, Pegg, Paula Patton and Jeremy Renner rounded out the IMF team at the end of Ghost Protocol, and with half of them returning for M:I5, it was only a matter of time before the rest followed along, too.

In a recent interview with Yahoo TV, Renner at last confirmed his involvement when asked whether he’d be interested in doing a short-term TV series like True Detective:

“It’s kind of unlikely. In fact, I’m kind of strapped time-wise doing ‘Avengers 2,’ and ‘Mission: Impossible 5′ is rearing its head, and then they want to do another ‘Bourne’ movie. It’s unlikely I can find the time right now. And that’s all right. It’s just really high-class problems – pretty awesome to have. Even if I really wanted to do it, which I don’t, I couldn’t.”

The ‘Ghost Protocol’ team of Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner, and Paula Patton.

As Renner said, being very busy with action tent-pole projects is a very good problem to have, yet one has to wonder how he’ll fit all these movies into his busy schedule. Renner is currently filming The Avengers 2 abroad, and judging by his response, it sounds like M:I 5 is next on the agenda. If the film ramps up production within the next few months, it should still be on track for its release date of December 2015. Either way, expect more news very soon.

Now that we know the IMF team members are all returning – assuming Patton is also along for the ride – we can begin to paint a better picture of Mission: Impossible 5. Brad Bird managed to revive the franchise with his adventurous Ghost Protocol, but judging from director McQuarrie’s past films, the series will likely be getting back to a more grounded and realistic approach for M:I 5.

What do you think about Renner returning to the series and the possible reunion of the cast of Ghost Protocol for M:I 5?